Introduction
Mercury is widely present in air, water and soil as a result of fossil fuel combustion, solid waste incineration, chemical industry, mining industry and metal smelting. As we know, mercury is one of the most dangerous and toxic heavy metals due to its high affinity to thiol groups in enzymes and proteins, destroying cells function and consequently causing a large number of health problems, such as cognitive disorder, brain and neurological damage, even in low concentration [1,2]. Therefore, the development of simple methods for monitoring Hg2+ in the environment and biological system is
critical.
Fluorescent sensors are highly selective, highly sensitive, maneuverable, low-cost, and suitable for in-situ and real-time monitoring, so they are very active in the field of heavy metal ions signaling currently [3–5]. A large number of colorimetric and fluorescent sensors for Hg2+ have been reported [2,6–9]. However,